My Yellow Lady
by sable113
Summary: "You're Isi, you're my yellow lady, you can't just stop." So how does Enna feel when her best friend dies? Well, she's Enna, isn't she? And she doesn't just give up. Set during Forest Born, and warning: there are spoilers.


**_Hello Goose Girl fans! I have decided to write my first Goose Girl fanfiction, because it is such an AWESOME book/series. This takes place during _Forest Born_, when the girls are stuck in the dungeon and Selia takes Isi away. It's from Enna's POV, because Enna is AWESOME and plus she's Isi's best friend. Please review, mild criticism is welcome and appreciated, but please be nice. Thanks, and enjoy!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Enna, Isi, Dasha, Rin, Selia or anything else mentioned in this fic. If I did, I would have to be Shannon Hale. Hah. In my dreams._**

We wait. The dungeon is cold, and every now and then I draw heat to myself and the others to warm us up. Dasha and Rin sit silently, lost in their own thoughts, but I can't stay still. I pace up and down, needing to know that Isi is alright, my hate for Selia growing with each step. Once I thought they were coming back, thought I heard a breeze whisper of their coming. I told the others, and they lifted their heads hopefully, but eventually lowered them again as there was no sign of anyone coming. I refuse to leave the door now, straining to hear anything from above.

After what feels like years of waiting, something happens. The sound of a door slamming, and Selia's angry voice reaches us.

"What did you do? What did—no! Curse you, idiots!" She screams and my heart seizes. When she speaks again, she's closer, coming toward us. "Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Too late now. Get rid of it. Throw it at her friends, tell them that Tusken is next if they lift a finger against me. Do you hear? Tusken is next!"

Now all three of us are standing, tensed and ready, watching the door like it's a monster that any moment could bite our heads off.

"They can't have meant . . . ," Dasha whispers. "She was not talking about . . ."

Then the door opens a little, making us all jump. The hands of two soldiers are visible, just for a moment, and they are holding something. A body. They dump it on the ground just inside the door, and for a moment I'm frozen. That can't be Isi. That can't be yellow hair draped over her face, that can't be my best friend lying motionless in front of me.

The sound of the soldiers slamming the door shut snaps me back to my senses. Dasha and I drop beside the body. I brush the hair away from the face and suddenly I can't breathe. Isi's green eyes are wide, staring, and her mouth hangs open. Lifeless. Dead.

"She's . . . she's not breathing," Dasha gasps, feeling Isi's neck for a pulse and holding her fingers above her lips. "I don't see a wound, but her hands are ice cold, and she's not—"

No. Isi isn't dead. I won't let her be dead. I shove Dasha to the side.

"Isi, get up," I command as if I'm the queen. I force my voice not to tremble. "That . . . that _thing_ can't kill you. You're Isi, you're my yellow lady, you can't just stop. So get up!"

I shake her, even though I know that won't help, and she feels like a rag doll in my arms. _No, no, no_. This isn't happening. First Ma, then Liefer, and now Isi. I feel like my insides are being ripped to pieces. Isi is my best friend, my queen, my yellow lady, my Anidori-Kiladra. She is a part of me, as much as wind and fire. I can't just lose her. Selia can't take her from me like that.

My breathing is coming quick and panicked, and suddenly I feel like a little girl, unable to keep the tears back. I can't think straight. I can't move. Sobs wrack my body, and I sink down until my face is buried in Isi's yellow hair. I hear myself saying her name over and over again, as if calling for her will bring her back. My body is trembling, and I want this to be over, to wake up and realize it was all a horrible dream. I want to know that Isi is alright, that everything's going to be okay. But it isn't. Isi is dead, and my best friend is gone.

I barely feel Rin's hand grip my shoulder until the feeling rushes through me. Peace, and strength, and suddenly my thoughts aren't so tangled anymore. As if from a great distance, I hear Rin say, "She's only just stopped breathing, she's cold and airless, only just."

I take a huge breath inward and my sobs stop. I can think again, and I have a feeling I know what Rin is trying to tell me. I turn toward her. Her dark eyes are scared, but at the same time peaceful, as if she knows everything is going to fine. And then I know exactly what to do.

I turn back to Isi's body and place my hands on her chest and stomach. I close my eyes and concentrate on sending tiny bursts of head into Isi's stilled heart, into her blood and her muscles. I warmed her body gently, bits at a time, while at the same time working air in and out of her nostrils, into her lungs. It becomes rhythmic, and hope stirs me for the first time.

Isi's chest rises and falls unevenly, and I keep going. Rin's grip on my shoulder slackens, but I refuse to give up. I talk almost conversationally to Isi. "You do not get to die, Isi. _She_ doesn't get to kill you, Anidori-Kiladra. You are too strong to die. Listen to me!"

Leaving one hand on Isi's chest, I grab Dasha, who until now has just been sitting there dumbly. I pull her close and speak urgently. "Do what I'm doing. She needs water too, and more fire. Easy with the heat, just enough to wake her up."

Dasha's eyes are wide and frightened. "I . . . I . . . ," she stammers, but I don't have time for that.

"Do it!" I yell, letting go of her. I'm about to turn to Rin also, but she seems to already know what to do. She sits by Isi's head, holding her face and smoothing her hair away. _Tree-speaking_, I remember, and wonder what she's doing to help. Then I turn my attention to Isi.

Her body is warming, and the rise and fall of her chest was becoming less uneven. _It's gonna work,_ I think. _It's actually gonna work._

I hear Rin murmuring, "Mother of Tusken, wife of Geric, queen of Bayern, daughter of Kildenree, friend of Enna, friend of Dasha and Finn and Razo. And Rin."

"Take a breath," I say. "Take a breath, Isi. You don't get to die. I can feel you in there still. Just wake up!"

The sound of a gasp makes all three of us freeze. We all watch as the hair over Isi's face quivers. I can feel her heart beating; feel the cold of her hands give way to warmth, to life. We bend over her, listening, straining. Dasha brushes the yellow hair away from Isi's face and we all see her green eyes blink once, then close. Tears are running down my face, but this time they're tears of joy.

"Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee," I say, my voice hoarse from crying. "If you're really alive, you'd better say so right now or I'll kill you myself."

Her eyelashes flutter. She coughs, and Dasha quickly wets her throat with water. We wait, and Isi coughs again.

Then she croaks out, "Just now, stuffing the queen of Kel into a barrel of nails sounds like mercy."

She's alive. I don't believe it. She's Isi, and she's alive. I find myself with my arms around her, sobbing and laughing and barely getting enough air to breathe. But I don't care. Because my best friend is alive again.

Isi smiles and closes her eyes again, curling up. We're all exhausted now, and we lay down, tangled up with each other. I keep my arms wrapped protectively around Isi, keeping her warm as we sleep.


End file.
